I have played vanilla on Xbox quite a bit but just installed Morrowind on my PC last night and am getting ready to install my first mod, the Morrowind Code Patch, and I noticed it had an option to allow spells to be cast Oblivion style, without having to go into the "Ready Spell"s stance. I rather like that combat in Morrowind is different from Oblivion and Skyrim and that it takes a second to switch between spells and weapons, with different stances for each. So, I don't think I will be checking that box in MCP.

But that got me thinking. What other combat mods might I want to use? Although I will mod other aspects of the game, I think I prefer vanilla when it comes to combat. I like the chance to fail. If I wanted to play Oblivion style, I would play Oblivion (which I do a lot, it may be my favorite TES). I like having to switch stances between combat and spell casting because it makes spell casting seem special and adds a little challenge. Plus, with Morrowind's automatic blocking, I have an extra button slot on my controller. Heck, I even like the fact that blocking is automatic. I cheer every time my character blocks. I am not playing Morrowind for its action elements, so my personal preference is not to install mods that make it more like an action game.

There was a good thread a while back asking this question for levelling -- given an informed choice, would you prefer vanilla levelling or modded levelling. I am curious about people's thoughts on combat (including the process of casting spells in combat), and whether, given an informed choice, they prefer vanilla or modded and why.

I have no problem with the hit and miss combat. I like that you don't always deal the same amount of damage, and that spells can fail ...though that you "miss" when you actually hit the target with a weapon, is crazy of course. But I don't care about it that much.

Swift casting otoh is very useful for me. I wouldn't mind switching between spell mode and weapon mode, if it wasn't for the fact that keys often don't react to my pressing them when I'm in combat, so I can't switch between weapon and spell but have to stick with either!

I've never used any combat mod for Morrowind. I was severely disappointed by what I saw as Oblivion's infantile no-fail combat when it first came out. I was one of those who thought combat was "dumbed down" in Oblivion.

I came back to Oblivion and eventually learned to appreciate that Oblivion's combat could be fun. But still, I never feel the sense of sense of accomplishment. When my character was finally skilled enough to hit, I felt I had achieved something, I felt proud. I miss that feeling of accomplishment in Oblivion and Skyrim and wish that Bethesda would return to it. But I guess games these days need to be fun and fast-paced or developers think they won't sell. So I fear we will never again see the more RPG-based combat we had in Morrowind.

All this is to say that I feel no desire to turn Morrowinds combat into the more first-person-shooter oriented combat of the later games. Morrowind's roleplaying combat - and its chance of failure in other aspects of the game - is one of its many glories.

I haven't had that problem of the button not working too much on the Xbox. Only when the game gets bogged down, but then none of the bottons work until the game catches up. That would be annoying though if it happened too much. Usually when it happens to my character, I pretend he fumbled a little in the heat of battle and needed a second to catch his wits.

Awesome post! I never thought I would hear you say anything like that. Have you had too much coffee today?

As for blocking... I don't mind automatic blocking at all, because I'm so bad at it myself. In Oblivion I mostly use shields for decoration, and in Skyrim I seldom use them at all, but prefer to have a spell or another weapon in my left hand. In Morrowind I can actually have blocking as a major skill.

Yes, If I have low combat or magic or crafting skills, I should fail more often than I succeed, and when I do succeed, I am not accomplishing that much. I get this and like this about Morrowind. I loved seeing my character get better at combat as the skills increased, rather than just take a bit more damage from my sword that never fails to land a blow.

I would just keep the combat mechanics of Morrowind. I think changing them will take some of the magic out of the game especially if you like that system.

Have fun with what ever mods you choose.

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I prefer the Morrowind combat style.